Mark your calendar

Rome, 3 February - The 34th session of the Governing Council, IFAD’s annual meeting, will feature internationally renowned experts who will analyse how to transform promises into realities for rural young women and men in smallholder agriculture, as well as in the rural economy more broadly. Highlights of the two-day session will include an opening ceremony featuring remarks from high-level participants, a plenary panel discussion on “Feeding future generations: Young rural people today – prosperous, productive farmers tomorrow” and four regionally-focused side events examining the issues faced by young rural people living in poverty

Saturday, 19 February 2011

Opening Ceremony - 09:15 hrs

• Kofi Annan, Nobel laureate, former United Nations Secretary General, and Chairman of the Board of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa
• President Álvaro Colom Caballeros, Guatemala
• Princess Haya Bint Al Hussein,United Nations Messenger of Peace andwife of HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai

Press conference

IFAD President Kanayo F. Nwanze and Kofi Annan will hold a joint press conference.

Plenary Panel -15:00 hrs

• Princess Haya and Kofi Annan
• Carlo Petrini, founder, International Slow Food movement
• Dayana Rivera Rivas, Asociación de Pequeños Caficultores del Corregimiento de La Marina – ASOPECAM
• Kevin Cleaver, Associate Vice-President, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)

Tumi Makgabo, WEF Young Global Leader and former CNN presenter, will moderate the panel.

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Sunday, 20 February 2011

Side Events on Rural Youth Around the World - 09:00 – 13:00 hrs

• Weathering the global economic crisis: Opportunities and challenges for rural youth in Asia and the Pacific
• Unleashing the potential of young rural people in Near East, North Africa and Europe
• Rural youth:  Investing today for a better tomorrow in Sub-Saharan Africa
• Supporting rural youth microenterprises in Latin America and the Caribbean

IFAD, Via Paolo di Dono 44 - E.U.R./Laurentina, Rome

Journalists are requested to accredit by 11 February 2011. Please fill in the attached form and send to ifadnewsroom@ifad.org.

Television crews, in particular, are advised to arrive early in order to ensure smooth security clearance of their equipment prior to enter the IFAD premises.  

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Media Alert No: IFAD/02/2011

The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) works with poor rural people to enable them to grow and sell more food, increase their incomes and determine the direction of their own lives. Since 1978, IFAD has invested over US$12.5 billion in grants and low-interest loans to developing countries, empowering more than 370 million people to break out of poverty. IFAD is an international financial institution and a specialized UN agency based in Rome – the UN’s food and agricultural hub. It is a unique partnership of 165 members from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), other developing countries and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).